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Rivarossi Big Boy

314 Views 15 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Mr Union Pacific
Hello I have a Rivarossi Big Boy the decoder is smoked and it won’t pickup power it is a dcc engine does anyone know what is the proble?
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What troubleshooting have you performed so far?
When I have track power no response from the Big Boy I have a Rivarossi 2-10-2 and that things runs fine on the same track and my track is dc and would you like some picture ?
While DCC decoders can be 'smoked', the more
likely cause of your inoperative loco is a loss of
power from the track. I don't know the wiring
of this loco but many of the steamers get one
or hoth sides of the power through the tender.
There may be a wire or two connecting to
the loco. This could be loose or broken. Some
times the drawbar is used as a power conductor
and could be loose. Check
that. Then too, the decoder inside the loco
may have a broken input connection. You should
remove the loco shell and use a multimeter
to test where power is being lost.

Don
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Follow up to my post.

I note that you say the loco is running on a DC track.
Has this loco actually run on this track preor to the
failure?

Don
Yes it has run on this track before failin.
And to my knowledge the Big Boys and Challengers don’t need their tender to run and mine is hr2640.
Regardless of what the manufacturers claim, I never think it's a good idea to mix DC and DCC. I know everyone has had different experiences doing it, but I'm not one of them and never will be.
Your right it may mess up the decoder.
3
Here a some pictures of the Big Boy do you think any of these could cause problems


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In the 1st pix there seems to be bent header pins and one could be touching another. I would start there.

Later
  • Wow
Reactions: 1
I see the loose or broken wires...what are
they connected to? Black wires are often
used in the primary power feed.
If disconnected in some way this would
shut down the loco. Better pics that
more clearly show the wiring and
it's connections would be helpful.

Don
I thought they might be speaker wires.
since you took the decoder off the motherboard , what does it look like , throw up a pic please .
like the others said i noticed the bent pins on the motherboard .
At least four as many as I could count. That is not good st all.
The broken wires are connected to the pickups to pickup power from the track Don.
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